The lexicostatistical base of Bennett & Sterks reclassification of Niger-Congo with particular reference to the cohesion of Bantu

Abstract

In 1977, Bennett and Sterk published a reclassification of the Niger-Congo languages which has been highly influential. In this paper I try to discover their lexicostatistic method (section 1), then use their published data to do a conventional lexicostatistic subgrouping (section 2), and finally look at their evidence for denying the genetic unity of Narrow Bantu (section 3).